OK, now the NSA is ‘spying’ on Americans – its employees. Which, by the way is perfectly legal. Try dialing a 1-800 porn number or brousing some porn sites at work and see what level of scrutiny employees are subject to. Some new guidelines at the NSA want the spy agency to note stories which could be leaks of classified information (sort of what myself, Mac Ranger and others do on these blogs). I find the Baltimore Sun story interesting in one critical area:

The NSA policy directs agency employees to “actively monitor the media for the purpose of identifying unauthorized disclosures” of classified information. It requires that all divisions within the agency produce annual reports on the number of classified leaks they uncover.

Such directives create pressure to identify more leaks, said Matthew Aid, a former NSA analyst who is writing a multivolume history of the agency.

“Instead of hunting for spies within the agency, now you’re hunting for disenchanted employees who may know somebody who knows a reporter,” he said. “It’s bound to divert resources and focus.”

See, if you have a disgruntled employee or a spy/mole spilling the beans to get back at someone that is fair game to investigate and prosecute. But if you are a source for a liberal hit piece that is not? Well, the interesting thing is you do not know the motives until you catch the leaker and investigate! So we have to detect all leaks and sort them out as we find them. The concern about people doing their work is a red herring. People get permission a priori to contact media people on subjects. If the job requires the contact it will be sanctioned.

But this brings up another angle the news media better face and soon. Al Qaeda is as smart as any other group (most if not all their leaders were educated in the West). Intelligence and subversion imply embedding people in organizations that can get information and raise havoc. The Iraq coverage is constantly being challenged as infiltrated by the enemy to plant stories and flame violence. The news media here in the US could also be leveraged to publicize secrets by elements within the media who actually have ulterior motives. What is there to say Risen and Lichtblau of the NY Times are not being used by very smart people to cripple our defenses in a way untraceable back to Al Qaeda? I am not saying that is the case. I am saying the goal of creating this situation, where our news media cripples our national efforts, is an obvious goal of intelligence agents and spies. It is a classic covert op.

The media is so obsessed with BDS they are the easiest dupes in the world to get to do Al Qaeda’s dirty work. Naive and driven by emotion our media may be the weakest link in our defenses.